Arata

Thanks Vass. I’ve taken the head to one of the cylinder head repair shop and the guy will let me know if it’s still reusable or not after carrying out 3 tests on it. Then he will carry out to resurface, clean, and replace the valve stem seals for me. Sounds like a good old man with heaps of great reviews. One of the shop in town I rang up quoted $1100+ to do hardness/pressure test and valve stem seals replacement (not including other things) and the guy I took the head into said that’s far too expensive. It was the very first time I’m taking the head for the tests so I said I’m not aware of the rough prices these days but my boss at our workshop, the garage next door all said that’s too much. The old man said about $600+ at the most and he sounded quite reasonable and explained to me what he does etc… Well I guess I’ll find out soon.

Thanks for the info Vass. so you suggest to take it to the shop and just get hardness test instead of pressure test?

Successfully removed cylinder head off (without breaking anything haha). Each cylinder bores still had clean original hone marks and no movement within the piston rings (within the spec wise). But looking at exhaust valve stems they are shot and obvious oil leaking from there building huge amount of carbons. Just ordered full head gasket sets, camshaft bolts, CCV sets, and other parts I wanted to replace. Where do you guys take cylinder heads for pressure test in Christchurch?

Thanks for that info!

You mean this one?

And it’s out.

Hmmmm…

Hmm interesting. So far I’m not convinced that any 4 cylinders are reliable in any way… no offence but just my personal grievance. I had couple of BMWs came to my boss’s workshop and guess what? They are all 4 cylinders (some with turbo) and all have issues with either overheating/cooling issues oil burning etc etc… and not so much with 6 cylinders.

You guessed it spot on. I got it for $500 haha. Only done 120,000km. Body is clean and straight apart from minor scratch here and there. Interior is super clean. I would’ve kept it if it was prefacelift model. I don’t really like the facelift indicator style it’s just not for me… Hopefully I can get the engine out of the car and start getting ready for rebuild. Still waiting for camshaft locking tool kit so no rush but it’s always good to get the things done in timely manner.

Thanks a lot! Yep I do know that 6 cylinders are lot more reliable. I was going to only replace CCV valve/hoses and valve stem seals but since I’m selling it after the rebuild I just want to get it done right.

Yep I have no intention of keeping it. I’m fixing up to sell. All other ones are 6 cylinders.

Hi team. This is Arata again. This one will be the 3rd BMW out of 5 vehicles I own and the worst engine I’ve encountered with… the famous 4 cylinder N42B20A. I’m in the process of removing the engine out for rebuild, due to valve stem seals worn out and blowing burning engine oil out of exhaust. I have already done the compression test and leak down test and came out well within the spec of 165-170 psi on all cylinders and 0-5% leakage. Apart from replacing the valve stem seals, I will be replacing the timing chain/guide/tensioner and entire CCV valve/hoses, is there anything I should be replacing while I’m at it? Any suggestions much appreciated. Thanks.

Hey guys, here comes the lights back at me again in the last few weeks, This time it's so intermittent that the lights come back a lot more frequently than before. So I went back all the way from the beginning of what I have done, researched the faults through, read the codes again, done erasing/clearing all faults etc. The only faults come back on INPA is CAN Data fault from DME, Wheel speed signal interference. Pretty much the same as before. So I have jacked the rear end of the car up, took the rear right wheel off, took off the abs sensor, just had a peek on the abs ring, nothing unsual except bit of dirt over the last couple of years built up so I degreased/brake clean the stuff out completely, refitted the abs sensor back on. Turned the car on and the lights were still intermittent. Then, for bit of curiosity on my end, took out the rear right abs sensor again and fitted the old original bmw sensor back in (it was covered in dirt so I gave it a clean). Turned the car on and before plugging INPA on the lights disappeared. Put INPA through and no faults present. WTF......... Then I realised, the abs sensor I have replaced for the rear right previously is from FCP Euro but it is Delphi one. I did search a lot and most people out there having similar issues with replacing aftermarket ones. I thought Delphi one is OE/OEM standard one but since it only lasted about a year, the fact that the old original one is surprisingly still working, I am quite disappointed the replacement one did not work at the end after all. The reason I replaced it in the first place was it was giving the fault codes on the scanner, however that time had no lights on the dash and everything was working fine. I will see how my car behaves again, but I will replace with new original BMW sensor this time for sure. At least the fight is over I think.

Update… I’ve spent the entire day checking all fuses/wirings in the morning yesterday, seems all working fine, the fact that when I replaced the abs sensor at rear right around last year, and I rechecked the connection/wiring around it, as well as reluctor ring at the hub and it’s not broken, gave it a good clean, still didn’t change anything. so I decided to replace the abs pump as I had a second hand one that’s already repaired before, sucked the brake fluid out from the reservoir, removed and replaced the abs pump, filled with new fluid, scanned and recoded using INPA/NCS Expert, carried out the brake flush through pressure bleeder. At this stage brake pedal feels firm as it should be. When I turn the car to ignition, the lights were changed to amber yellow, hand brake light was on but when I started the car it turned off as soon as I released the hand brake, got out to the road and both abs light/traction control light went off and so far never came back on. Most likely I will bleed the brakes one more time in case, but otherwise brakes fine, abs works, I think I can say I’ve sorted out the issue. The things I’ve learnt from this was never take in of what the scanner says, sometimes it would pinpoint out the problem doesn’t mean it’s the main cause of issues. I’ll drive for next couple of weeks and if the lights doesn’t come back on I’m happy with it......

I usually take it for a drive on Saturdays for test driving. At the moment for some reason Fuel gauge started working again somewhat but it is intermittent so I’ll take out the level sender unit and see what the condition is like. When I replaced the fuel pump it was completely rusted so I’m gonna expect the same. Other thing I noticed that when the car turns on and changed the gear once (it’s Automatic by the way) and it seems wanting to stall almost, only happens once and after that never has issues. I’m hoping it’s simple vacuum leak which I’m gonna replace vacuum/intake hoses/pipes. Any idea what else can cause it to stall?

Ok. Thanks! I’ll check the fuel trim and see what it says.

So I'm looking at values right now, heating voltage on both sensor at hot idle, is 4.25V-4.26V. TV probe heating is 99.21%, on both sensors. Voltage is switching from 0.12V-0.78V. Is this normal? Or the sensors on heating side is actually f**ked?

NZ00Z3, Thank you very much for that info. Well I know that there's no resistance at all anyway on both sensors, I'll plug in INPA and will have a look at the readings. HOPEFULLY, what's left in the fuel tank will be enough to monitor those readings... Anything else I should be watching on while I'm looking at live data?

Thanks guys. I’ll read the info and will get on to it! For last entire week, the lights decided not to show at all. Today lights showed up again and I tried to scan with INPA and INPA doesn't communicate on ABS module and gets me back to the first page when you load INPA. Is this mean ABS module is toasted? I'll see if the lights decide to go out because if they go then I can scan it for some reason... Or is it something else?

Hey guys, thanks for the input. I’ve checked my mass air flow sensor and it’s original BMW Siemens sensor and working fine. as for fuel pressure regulator, it’s not leaking and reading around 50psi so it’s still working (I did have some suspect but oh well) Then today, after work I was thinking maybe the O2 sensors are gone. My M52TUB20 only has 2 O2 sensors (no CAT) and checked with RealOEM.com for parts diagram and does show that this engine only uses 2 O2 sensors. (My other M54B22 has cats and 4 O2 sensors by the way) So I unplugged each sensors one at the time, checked for resistance value apparently between 2-3 Ohms is standard, then no resistance shown on BOTH sensors!!! Pretty sure they are original sensors from 1999… So at this stage I’ll replace them and see what happens hopefully that’s the only culprit. I mean, using 15 litres worth of petrol in 10 mins non-stop driving is insane isn’t it? Will keep you updated as soon as my O2 sensors arrive.

I've taken my E30 325i for drive on Friday - Sunday this week, has anyone spotted?

Hey guys it's me again. I have another E46 which I'm getting it ready to sell soon, however it has somewhat very high fuel usage. So far no fault codes/check engine light on dash or by scanner(INPA). It also has slow acceleration when cold. It idles fine whether cold or hot, shift gears smoothly (automatic ZF). Things I've done since owning this car in the last 2 years... New fuel filter as of yesterday (plus the fuel hoses around the filter ends) New spark plugs. New upper/lower intake boots. New throttle body gasket, new idle control valve gasket, new intake manifold gasket, and all intake system/components are cleaned. New throttle cable. New vanos seals. New valve cover gasket with grommets. New CCV system/hoses. New upper/lower coolant hoses, expansion tank, radiator, thermostat, water pump, coolant temp sensor, heater hoses, coolant level sensor. New battery. New transmission fluid and filter. New air filter. (I might have forgotten more stuff...) I also have E46 M54B22 and that fuel consumption I would say it's average for the age of E46 M54, but this M52TUB20 uses almost twice the amount. Now I've also done repairs/maintenance on M54 ones pretty much the same. Only things I've done more was replacing all 4 O2 sensors on M54 which did make little bit better (wasn't as bad as M52TU fuel consumption to start off with anyway) I wonder if it's O2 sensors possibly too old/faullty, or the throttle body/position sensor issue, or simply throttle cable needs adjusting? Thanks in advance guys.

Here are the photos. Sorry that weather weren’t great…

Hey guys, yes I knew people would be asking for photos. I'll give it a wash and go for drive this weekend and I'll take some photos. I do apologise in advance that my photo shooting may not be great. As for the build thread yep I might be able to, I might even video record the whole thing (or I'll try). Ah forgot to mention that I did replace the crankshaft position sensor this was the very first thing I had to do before my ownership. Also the battery replaced at the same time. Anyway will keep you all updated on this one. If anyone in CHCH especially, you might recognise it as I don't see 2 door sedan Mtech2 with left hand drive unless someone is hiding it.

Hey guys. Thanks for reply. This one has never been on sale, previous owner was the only one owner throughout the entire life, she bought it brand new in Japan and brought it here in around 2005, in fact she actually pretty much gave it to me due to having new car (of course I paid for it). Yep I’m planning on rebuilding the both engine/transmission in the next couple of months or within a year but for the meantime I’ll attack with the fuel leaks around the engine. any ideas on how to spot the fuel leaks in a easy way? Does have a oil leak so I’m gonna clean the engine bay and underneath first…